John Randolph of Roanoke

9. House Cynosure

9 House Cynosure Bard, sage, and Tribune! in himself All moods of mind contrasting, The tenderest wail of human woe, The scorn like lightning blasting. As soon as the gavel dropped to begin the second session of the ninth Congress , a move was made against Randolph.1 Willis Alston proposed that membership on standing committees be determined by house vote, not by appointment by the speaker.2 The underlying presumption of Alston’s motion was clear: Randolph would not sit on Ways & Means if the membership voted. Alston got his vote, but speaker Macon held enough of his allies in line to survive this challenge to his power by a narrow vote of forty-two to forty-four. The referendum on Randolph failed—just barely. Macon proceeded to make committee appointments, but he stopped short at Ways & Means. Randolph was not in his seat. Macon could not appoint an absent member to a committee and was left with no alternative than to fill Randolph’s spot with another.3 “[such] was my sense of duty,” Macon wrote, “that i could not act otherwise.”4 The speaker’s remorse—and any corresponding delight among administration forces—was short-lived. Randolph soon arrived, and the “mystery of affection and faith he inspired in his friends” was promptly manifested. James Garnett withdrew from the Ways & Means Committee, creating a vacancy that the speaker filled with Randolph. The new chairman of Ways & Means, Joseph Clay, promptly stepped aside, and the committee reinstated Randolph as chairman.5 Jefferson ’s allies had failed, but everyone recognized that it had been a very near thing. Randolph recorded no comment regarding the machinations to remove him from his sole remaining position of authority, but he did skip the traditional courtesy call paid on the president by members of Congress.6 Randolph may have been an ishmael within the Republican caucus, but 118 house CYnosuRe 119 his views seemed to still animate policy. in his message to Congress, Jefferson endorsed two of Randolph’s positions: repeal of the salt duty and suspension of the non-importation act.7 Randolph allowed himself a fleck of self-satisfaction as he watched his colleagues squirm at this de facto endorsement of his positions. “They remind me of a practice which i have heard of in military punishments,” he wrote, “to give the offender a bullet to chew on to enable him to bear the pain and keep from crying out. They chewed the bullet with a vengeance.”8 several Republicans began to adjust their behavior toward their former leader. “The temper of the house at present,” Randolph noted, “seems less intolerant and violent than at the last session.”9 he found that he was being treated with “the greatest apparent cordiality” and heard that “[the] higher powers are in the same goodly temper .”10 Talk began to percolate of a truce between the administration and the Quids, but Randolph would take cordiality only so far. “it is reported,” he wrote, “that i have made overtures to the reigning powers on my behalf and that of the minority, to forgive and forget the past. . . . nothing can be farther from the truth. so much for that.”11 Lest there be any mistaking his sentiments toward reconciliation, Randolph reminded the house “that to suspend [the non-importation act’s] operation is to acknowledge the impolicy of having originally passed it.”12 he made it clear that repealing one tax was not enough to soothe fundamental differences. “i hope to see the time,” he said, “when all the taxes of the General Government shall be repealed, except a small ad valorem duty of five per cent.”13 Finally, Randolph reminded his colleagues that they had pointed “the finger of scorn” at him, called him “mad-dog,” and accused him of “political defection.” Did they now expect him to remain silent when “all measures for which this denunciation was made” were adopted? “no, sir,” he said, “i cannot take a retrospect of the past without feeling a degree of conscious pride that my aid was not given, that i had no hand in the acts of commission or omission that have brought us to this deplorable state of things.”14 if there was to be any reconciliation, it would have to come from the Yazoo men and the prodigal Republicans. For his part, Randolph would continue “to be true to those principles which i have constantly maintained and, God willing, ever will maintain so long as i have a seat on...